The manufacturer of this charcoal gave us a shout and asked if we could review their product. What we have here is charcoal made from a Mexican species of oak. As usual, our
first move was to dump the contents out onto the ground to see how it looks. Our first impression was that there were a large number of pieces of useful sizes. As you
can see in the following table only 4.6%, or just under a pound, of the bag consisted of small chips and dust. This is very low compared to other charcoals. Considering
that the bag contained 20.8 pounds, you are getting virtually the entire advertised weight of charcoal being usable:
| Large |
5.6 pounds |
27.1% |
| Medium |
8.4 pounds |
40.4% |
| Small |
5.8 pounds |
27.9% |
| Chips/Dust |
1.0 pounds |
4.6% |
|
|
|
| Total |
20.8 pounds |
|
|
In sorting the charcoal into sizes, we found no scrap, no trash, or anything else that didn't belong. We found one small piece of bark which was not carbonized. We
also liked that there were no monster sized pieces that one would have bust up with a hammer to make them usable.
Our lighting test required 5 sheets of newspaper to get a good fire going in the chimney starter, which is high compared to other brands of charcoal. During
the lighting, there was a small amount of sparking, but no popping. The smoke produced was very very strong, stronger than some people might like. More later...
Next in our maximum temperature test, we were only able to get this charcoal to burn at around 835 degrees which is average compared to other brands. Again,
there was a little sparking while the fire was growing, but no popping. We did observe that the fire was very slow to spread and it took quite a while for it
to get up to that maximum temperature.
When lighting the charcoal for our burn time test using a MAP-Pro torch, as expected, there were a lot of sparks flying but still no popping. Of course, you
should always be careful when using any sort of torch to light charcoal. The burn time was high compared to other brands of charcoal, right in the middle of the high
group. And finally, the volume of ash produced by our test burn was low compared to other brands of charcoal.
And then we have that strong smelling smoke. This is about the strongest smoke we have ever come across in all our testing. We wouldn't
be exaggerating when we say that when we did our test burn on a fairly calm day, we could smell the charcoal burning all around our house.
We also cooked using this charcoal and there was plenty
of smoke coming from burning the charcoal to flavor the food. You didn't need to add smoking chips or chunks to augment the charcoal.
So to sum up, this charcoal has excellent size distribution, is somewhat difficult to light, has an average maximum burn temperature, a reasonably long burn time
and fairly low ash production. You will need to judge for yourself how well you like the smokiness of this charcoal and take that into account. We were somewhat
torn about what rating to give this charcoal due to the strong smoke it gives off. We'll give it our Recommended rating, but be aware that the charcoal does have
a very strong smell if this important to you. This charcoal isn't available online at this time, but you will find it at any of the many Louisiana Grills
dealers around the country.
